Interests

WEEKEND CHEEVE CHALLENGE "What do achievement points make? Prizes!" (Bruce Forsyth, 2012) Okay, so what's this all about then? Every weekend (as long as there's not a trade show on) PlayXBLA run a contest whereby if you earn a certain number of the achievements that they specify, you'll get a prize for it. So far, this has been two or three XBLA codes. I like prizes! Me too, and they've given away such games as Trials Evolution, FEZ, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Half-Minute Hero, Sine Mora, Radiant Silvergun and loads more. These are not shit prizes. Really? Okay, sometimes they're shit. You won't know what you're going to win until they email you the prize, unfortunately. If you win something you don't want though, there will always be people that do want it, and I'm sure they will repay your generosity next time they win something they don't want! You'll probably be surprised at how much of the stuff on XBLA is really good though. So, what do I have to do? To win, you just need to earn however many achievements they request, making sure that you earn achievements that they have specified. If you've already earned the achievements years ago, they still count, so that's less that you have to worry about over the weekend. You can earn them in as many or as few of the specified games as you're able. You have to earn them by Monday at 5pm, and you simply email them and wait until your prizes come. It's that simple. Regardless of when you email them over the weekend, it will be Monday evening when your prizes come through. When you're emailing them, include your Gamertag, and you can make their lives easier by linking to it like this. Let them know what games you've earned the achievements in, too, it's nice to be nice. What if I don't win? EVERYBODY WINS, as long as they earn the achievements. There's no prize draw, there's no first-come first-served, if you earn the achievements you get the prize. Good luck!

Times: UK: June 4th 5:30 PM BST EU: June 4th 6:30 PM CET US: June 4th 9:30 AM PST US: June 4th 12:30 PM EST Video Streams: http://www.xbox.com/en-gb/e3 http://e3.gamespot.c...e/microsoft-e3/ http://www.gametrailers.com/e3/ http://www.g4tv.com/.../microsoft/131/ http://www.youtube.com/user/E3 In addition, Gold members can watch the entire conference from the comfort of the dash. What Are We Expecting: With 360 entering it's twilight years, MS are expected to be focussing on service and content announcements, with the highlight being the unveiling of their 'Woodstock' music service, which is largely thought to be MS's answer to Spotify. Another big focus of the conference will likely be the recently leaked 'Smart Glass' app, which will widen the reach of 360 to iOS and Android devices. The true wild card are rumors of some type of new hardware reveal, that isn't the next Xbox. There has been evidence that MS have something in the works, which many initially speculated were Durango developer boxes, but more recent murmurings suggest that MS could be going for a revised 360 model. On the games front, it looks as though MS will come out a lot stronger than many perhaps feared. Halo 4 is almost certainly going to be their big title, but recent leaks/announcements of a new Gears of War (developed by Epic owned People Can Fly), and an open world Forza game should keep the core happy. Doubtless Kinect will take center stage, but with Fable: The Journey, a new Panzer Dragoon, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, along with an exclusive Harry Potter game and Ryze, we should hopefully see more interesting demonstrations than the usual run of awkwardly stage prepped children fitting on stage. On top of this, MS's show is almost certainly going to feature the first big look at the next Call of Duty game (even though I wouldn't bet against Sony nabbing them this year, to showcase their Vita title) and along with a healthy showing of third party titles, all things being well, MS should have a decent show ahead of them. What We Got: ...seriously, I don't know what more to add to that..... well not today anyway. Well, all credit to tnman again, who has put together a great bullet list of what MS delivered: Halo 4!
Splinter Cell Blacklist FIFA/Madden Kinect Fable The Journey trailer Forza Horizon Gears of War Judgement Tomb Raider 9 Resident Evil 6 South Park: The Stick of Truth Dance Central 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 New dash functions, including Bing search genre. Fuck yeah. Lots of new apps for sports Xbox Music Nike+ Kinect Xbox SmartGlass, like Apple Airplay, can supplement content with maps of where characters are in TV shows. Internet Explorer coming to 360 New IP: Ascend: New Gods New IP: Loco Cycle (Twisted Pixel's new game) New IP: Matter New IP: Wrecketeer (Angry Birds rip-off)

After reading the E3 threads I am left with no real interest in what has been presented by the three big hitters. For me these days it's games like Fez, Minecraft, Trials Evo, Limbo, Double Fine's output, DayZ, Dear Esther that interest me, but am I kidding myself that these games can make enough money to support a platform without riding the coat tails of the AAA infrastructure? Xbox and Playstation are so far down a road of big budgets that even though they do deliver these great indie games they're side lined by social networking and media systems trying to bring mass market appeal. I think Nintendo had a great idea with the Wii by making a lower spec, cheaper machine, but they're such a closed market they focus on their own IP and back catalogue. So do we have a new opening in the market for a console that provides a dedicated Xbox Live / PSN style experience with a channel for more experimental titles like the Xbox Indie gaming but one that actually makes these games the focus and gives them better exposure? It doesn't have to be a new player either, Steam and Apple I think are both excellently placed to step in on these, Apple's recent purchase of Leowe seems to suggest they're bringing the App store to our living room TVs.

Announced today, Monolith Productions latest game is going to be an XBLA/PSN MOBA game set in the Lord Of The Rings universe. Full press release below though there's no footage/screenshots available yet. More than likely at E3. http://online.wsj.co...530-708198.html http://www.guardiansofmiddleearth.co.uk/home Now I'm not a big fan of MOBA games and if anyone can make one I'll enjoy it's Monolith but....just what the fuck are you doing with Monolith Warner Bros ? Stop making them whipping boys for your fucking licensed properties damnit. I really don't know what's going on with them. Is this the studios big project ? Is it another small team and they have another game in the works ? It's a mysteeeeeery!